First Battle of Bull Run - American Civil War - HISTORY.com First Battle of Bull Run First Battle of Bull Run Author First Battle of Bull Run URL A+E Networks Introduction On July 21, 1861, Union and Confederate armies clashed near Manassas Junction, Virginia, in the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Known as the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas), the engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull Run. After fighting on the defensive for most of the day, the rebels rallied and were able to break the Union right flank, sending the Federals into a chaotic retreat towards Washington. The Confederate victory gave the South a surge of confidence and shocked many in the North, who realized the war would not be won as easily as they had hoped.

Google Prelude to the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) By July 1861, two months after Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War, the northern press and public were eager for the Union Army to make an advance on Richmond ahead of the planned meeting of the Confederate Congress there on July 20. Encouraged by early victories by Union troops in western Virginia , and by the war fever spreading through the North, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to mount an offensive that would hit quickly and decisively at the enemy and open the way to Richmond, thus bringing the war to a mercifully quick end. The offensive would begin with an attack on more than 20,000 Confederate troops under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction, Virginia (25 miles from Washington , D.C.) along a little river known as Bull Run. Did You Know? After First Manassas, Stonewall Jackson further distinguished himself in the Shenandoah Valley, Second Manassas and Fredericksburg.

The man Lee called his "right arm" was accidentally shot by his own men at Chancellorsville and died of complications relating to the injury. The cautious McDowell, then in command of the 35,000 Union volunteer troops gathered in the Federal capital, knew that his men were ill prepared and pushed for a postponement of the advance to give him time for additional training. But Lincoln ordered him to begin the offensive nonetheless, reasoning (correctly) that the rebel army was made up of similarly amateur soldiers. McDowell’s army began moving out of Washington on July 16; its slow movement allowed Beauregard (who also received advance notice of his enemy’s movements through a Confederate espionage network in Washington) to call on his fellow Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston for reinforcements. Johnston, in command of some 11,000 rebels in the Shenandoah Valley, was able to outmaneuver a Union force in the region and march his men towards Manassas. Battle Begins at Bull Run McDowell’s Union force struck on July 21, shelling the enemy across Bull Run while more troops crossed the river at Sudley Ford in an attempt to hit the Confederate left flank.

Over two hours, 10,000 Federals gradually pushed back 4,500 rebels across the Warrington turnpike and up Henry House Hill. Reporters, congressmen and other onlookers who had traveled from Washington and were watching the battle from the nearby countryside prematurely celebrated a Union victory, but reinforcements from both Johnston and Beauregard’s armies soon arrived on the battlefield to rally the Confederate troops. In the afternoon, both sides traded attacks and counterattacks near Henry House Hill. On Johnston and Beauregard’s orders, more and more Confederate reinforcements arrived, even as the Federals struggled with coordinating assaults made by different regiments. The “Rebel Yell” at Bull Run (Manassas) By four o’clock in the afternoon, both sides had an equal number of men on the field of battle (about 18,000 on each side were engaged at Bull Run), and Beauregard ordered a counterattack along the entire line. Screaming as they advanced (the “rebel yell” that would become infamous among Union troops) the Confederates managed to break the Union line.

As McDowell’s Federals retreated chaotically across Bull Run, they ran headlong into hundreds of Washington civilians who had been watching the battle while picnicking on the fields east of the river, now making their own hasty retreat. Among the future leaders on both sides who fought at First Manassas were Ambrose E. Burnside and William T. Sherman (for the Union) along with Confederates like Stuart, Wade Hampton , and most famously, Thomas J. Jackson, who earned his enduring nickname, “Stonewall,” in the battle. Jackson, a former professor at the Virginia Military Institute, led a Virginia brigade from the Shenandoah Valley into the battle at a key moment, helping the Confederates hold an important high-ground position at Henry House Hill. General Barnard Bee (who was later killed in the battle) told his men to take heart, and to look at Jackson standing there “like a stone wall.” Impact of Bull Run (Manassas) Despite their victory, Confederate troops were far too disorganized to press their advantage and pursue the retreating Yankees, who reached Washington by July 22.

The First Battle of Bull Run (called First Manassas in the South) cost some 3,000 Union casualties, compared with 1,750 for the Confederates. Its outcome sent northerners who had expected a quick, decisive victory reeling, and gave rejoicing southerners a false hope that they themselves could pull off a swift victory. In fact, both sides would soon have to face the reality of a long, grueling conflict that would take an unimaginable toll on the country and its people. On the Confederate side, accusations flew between Johnston, Beauregard and President Jefferson Davis over who was to blame for the failure to pursue and crush the enemy after the battle. For the Union, Lincoln removed McDowell from command and replaced him with George B. McClellan, who would retrain and reorganize Union troops defending Washington into a disciplined fighting force, thereafter known as the Army of the Potomac. Tags » See all Battle Of Bull Run Articles Battle Of Bull Run Summary: The First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) was the first major land-based confrontation of the American Civil War .

The Union army commander in Washington, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, gave in to great pressure to begin campaigning before his men’s 90-day enlistments expired, although he did not feel the army was adequately trained yet, leading to a stunning Confederate victory and ending northern hopes of a quick end to the war. Amassing An Army At Manassas On July 16, 1861, he set out with the Army of Northeastern Virginia, about 28,400 men, from Washington to attack the Confederate forces near Manassas, Virginia, just 25 miles away, and push them farther from the Northern capital. Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard had been massing the Confederate Army of the Potomac at Manassas since the spring of 1861 and had about 21,800 soldiers at hand. He was protecting a key rail station at Manassas Junction and had fanned his troops out along Bull Run north of town. General Joseph E. Johnston, though senior in rank to Beauregard, arrived from the Shenandoah Valley not long before the battle but being unfamiliar with the terrain, deferred to Beauregard.

(Army names of the Civil War can be confusing. Not long after this battle, the largest Union army was re-named the Army of the Potomac, and after the Seven Days Battles, Robert E. Lee permanently re-named the largest Confederate army the Army of Northern Virginia.) The Battle Of Bull Run Begins After arriving in the Manassas vicinity on July 18, Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler’s Union division probed Bull Run and engaged in a skirmish at Blackburn’s Ford. After losing about 150 men, Tyler withdrew. With information from additional reconnaissance, McDowell planned to use two columns to attack the Confederates left flank while a third circled to the far right flank and south to provide a distraction, cut the Confederates off from Richmond, and force them farther southeast. McDowell’s plan counted in part on Union major general Robert Patterson’s troops preventing General Joseph Johnston’s Army of the Shenandoah in Winchester from providing reinforcements to Beauregard, ensuring the Union would outnumber the Confederates at Manassas.

Unbeknownst to McDowell, on the morning of July 20, Johnston’s troops had begun boarding the railroad at Piedmont Station in a steady stream to reinforce Beauregard; Patterson had waited too long to engage them. Very early in the morning on July 21, McDowell sent two divisions north toward Sudley Springs, while another division was to create a diversion by attempting to cross Bull Run at Stone Bridge. Confederate colonel Nathan Evans suspected the attack at Stone Bridge was just a diversion to conceal a larger movement and, upon receiving confirmation of this from his signal officer, redirected most of his men to Matthews Hill. They were able to slow down the Union divisions advancing from the north, but by midday they were being driven back toward Henry Hill, across the road behind them. General Thomas Jackson At Bull Run Brigadier General Thomas Jackson’s Virginia brigade, Col. Wade Hampton and his Legion, and Col. J.E.B. Stuart’s cavalry arrived at Henry Hill to reinforce the Confederates. Jackson set up a line of artillery on the crest of the hill, where the artillerymen would be protected.

McDowell moved his artillery from Dogan Ridge to Matthews Hill, and the contesting batteries engaged in a fierce fight, during which a civilian was wounded; Mrs. Judith Henry, ill and in bed in her home on Henry Hill, would succumb to her wounds later in the day. Near the end of the artillery fight, Brig. Gen. Barnard Bee, on Henry Hill with Jackson, declared that the Union was about to break their lines, to which Jackson replied "Then we shall give them the bayonet!" To rally his troops—or perhaps in anger at Jackson coming to his aide too slowly—Bee exclaimed "Look at Jackson standing like a stonewall," bestowing the nickname "Stonewall" on Jackson. In a show of persistence and bravery, Jackson’s brigade charged the Union artillery line, overran it, captured guns, and changed the course of the battle. Jackson continued to press against the Union lines, telling his men to wait until they were within 50 yards of the enemy before attacking, "And when you charge, yell like furies!" Confederate troops gave the first Rebel yell of the war. The seesaw battle was still in doubt as the afternoon wore on.

When Beauregard saw a column of dusty troops coming up the road, he was uncertain which side they belonged to. The flag of both sides used red and white stripes and blue upper left corner; he couldn’t be certain which flag the newcomers carried, and he contemplated ordering a retreat. Then a wind sprang up, and the Confederate national flag unfurled; Johnston’s men had arrived. The Rout Of Union Troops The Union troops, attacked unexpectedly by these new arrivals, fled in a disorganized retreat that turned into a rout. The Confederates, who were also disorganized, did not pursue. The Southerners lost nearly 2,000 men, the Northerners over 2,700, over 1,200 of whom were taken prisoner or otherwise missing. In recognition of this victory, Beauregard was promoted to full general on August 31, to rank retroactively to the day of the battle. Aftermath of The Battle of Bull Run The ferocity of the fighting and the number of casualties at First Bull Run were a wake-up call to both sides. Five days after the battle, McDowell, blamed for the defeat, was replaced by Major General George B.

McClellan as Union army leader. Johnston’s Army of the Shenandoah and Beauregard’s Army of the Potomac were combined. Not long after Gen. Robert E. Lee was placed in command of the combined force, he permanently renamed it the Army of Northern Virginia. The flag incident showed the need for a more readily identifiable Southern banner. The "Southern Cross" design, a blue X with white stars on a red banner, the flag most commonly associated with the Confederacy, was adopted as a battle flag, although it was used more in the Eastern Theater than in the West. Banner image Bull Run, Va. Federal cavalry at Sudley Ford, created by George N. Barnard, Library of Congress. Articles Featuring First Battle Of Bull Run From History Net Magazines Featured Article First Battle of Bull Run: The U.S Marines As Marine Major John G. Reynolds marched his battalion over the Potomac Long Bridge on the afternoon of July 16, 1861, he must have wondered what lay ahead for his Marines. A Mexican War veteran, Reynolds had seen Marines serve with distinction in that war 14 years earlier, and now he fully expected his command to do the same.

Still, as an officer with 35 years of military service under his belt, Reynolds worried about the green troops under his command. True, they were Marines, but as they headed toward their first fight in a new war, across a small Virginia creek called Bull Run, he had some doubts that could only be answered when the bullets began to fly. The order to the commandant had been specific: ‘You will be pleased to detail from the barracks four companies of eighty men each, the whole under the command of Major Reynolds with the necessary officers, noncommissioned officers and musicians for temporary field service under Brigadier General [Irvin] McDowell. The Marines were to join Union forces moving to oppose the Confederates positioned at Manassas, Va. From regiments of brand-new volunteers to U.S. Army regulars, every available Union soldier was being rushed toward the impending fray, and the Marines were no exception.One part of the Confederate Army had already occupied Manassas, a day’s march of 26 miles from Washington, D.C. General P.G.T. Beauregard’s Southerners, about 23,000 strong, were astride an important railroad junction and in position to threaten the capital itself.

The remainder of the Confederate forces, 15,000 men under General Joseph E. Johnston, were in the vicinity of Harpers Ferry, 70 miles northwest of Manassas. The Confederate Army, split as it was into two separate wings, seemingly invited attack, and the Union commander was being pressured from all sides to take quick and decisive action. McDowell needed to act quickly to defeat the divided Confederates while he still commanded an army. Many of the 90-day Union volunteer regiments in his army, called into service in response to Confederate seizure of Fort Sumter two months earlier, were nearing the end of their enlistments, and many of the new replacement regiments were not yet combat-ready. Nevertheless, recognizing the need for urgency, the Lincoln administration rushed additional reinforcements to McDowell from all parts of the Union. Raw young recruits from New York, New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota poured into Washington, camping in a sea of white tents visible in every direction from the Capitol dome. The arrival of new troops in Washington reflected the growing sense of panic within both the government and the Union Army.

With a teeming Rebel army mere miles away, an understandable sense of urgency gripped the president, his cabinet and U.S. Army General-in-Chief Winfield Scott, an aging hero of the Mexican War. Scott, in particular, was obsessed with protecting the capital, to the point of resisting McDowell’s plan for taking the war to the Confederates in Virginia and advising instead that he consider making a large-scale assault down the Mississippi River to split the Confederacy in two. McDowell, in turn, refused to consider Scott’s counter suggestion, and Lincoln eventually intervened, ordering flatly that the Union Army take the offensive-immediately. Under direct orders from the president, McDowell drew up a plan for dividing his army into three columns to converge on the Rebels from three different directions north of Manassas. The plan was a good one, but it required at least twice as many men as McDowell then had at hand-hence the tumultuous influx of new recruits in Washington. The Marine Corps of 1861 reflected the turmoil of the times. Its 48 officers and 2,338 enlisted men had a wide range of experience levels, from aging veterans to raw recruits.

Having grown by 25 percent between 1860 and 1861, the Corps swelled once again as the Civil War started. Indeed, the influx was so rapid that new troops at the Washington Navy Yard had to be berthed in the stables. Since many veteran Marines still served aboard ships or were deployed at U.S. shore installations throughout the world, few experienced Marines remained in Washington to help preserve the Union. As a result, untested new recruits filled out the ranks of Reynold’s force. The Civil War influenced the number and quality of Marine officers available for duty, as well. Although the total number of Marine officers remained essentially the same after the war started, the experience level of the officers declined. Twenty Marine officers resigned from service, electing to join the Confederacy in the spring of 1861. More critically, among the ranks from first lieutenant to major, nearly half of the officers headed South. Thus it was that half of Reynolds’ Marine officers marching to face a hostile enemy had been commissioned within the previous two months. It took time for the new Marine units to be integrated, however hastily, into the Army, and in the meantime, Lincoln, Scott and the cabinet members fretted.

The target date for the offensive, July 8, passed without a whimper. McDowell, sitting in his camp, complained to his staff that he had no opportunity to test my machinery, to move it around and see whether it would work smoothly or not. Unfortunately for McDowell, he did not have the luxury of a test run. Scott, fuming at the delay, told Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler that there was no excuse for an unfortunate result in the upcoming campaign, since McDowell had superior numbers and equipment in his favor. McDowell, however, did not see it that way. I wanted very much a little time, he said later, all of us wanted it. We did not have a bit of it. The answer was: ‘You are green, it is true; but they are green, also; you are all green alike.’ Finally, on July 15, final orders were given for an advance the next day. Brigadier General Samuel Heintzelman would lead one wing of the army down the Orange & Alexandria Railroad to a point below the Confederate army at Manassas. Brigadier General David Hunter would head toward Centreville, a village directly northeast of Bull Run.

And Tyler would head for Vienna, where he would proceed west to block the Little River Turnpike and the Rebel line of retreat. On to Richmond! was the informal, if overly optimistic, watchword of the campaign. Reynolds formed his men into a battalion and trooped out from the Washington Navy Yard with the rest of the army on July 16. In addition to four companies of 320 privates, the battalion included 12 officers, 17 noncommissioned officers, two drummers and two fifers. None of the privates had been in the service for more than three weeks, and only 16 Marines had had significant experience. Still, the leaders were seasoned Marines. Besides Reynolds’ 35 years of service, his second-in-command, Major Jacob Zeilin, had been in service for 30 years. Of the remainder, only three other officers, nine noncommissioned officers and two musicians could be considered veterans. The Marines were attached to Colonel Andrew Porter’s brigade of the 2nd Division.

The brigade numbered 3,700 men and included a militia regiment from New York, the 8th New York; two volunteer regiments, the 14th and the 27th New York; a battalion of Army regulars; a cavalry detachment; and an artillery battery from the 5th U.S. Artillery under Captain Charles Griffin. Porter recognized only too well the rawness of the Marines, but still complimented them: Through the constant exertions of their officers [they] had been brought to present a fine military appearance. He assigned Reynolds’ battalion to support Griffin’s battery. By accompanying the artillery, Griffin reasoned, the Marines might be shielded from the heaviest fire, and their inexperience might not become a factor. The Union army’s march toward Manassas took twice as long as expected, with one day of travel lost when field rations were not packed as ordered. It was not until July 21 that the Federals arrived near Centreville, where the Confederates guarded the lower crossings of Bull Run. McDowell’s plan was to make a feint against the Confederate positions on Bull Run with half of his army while marching the remainder of his force upstream.

There, at a ford near Sudley Springs, the soldiers would cross Bull Run, presumably turning the flank of the preoccupied Confederates. The Marines and the rest of Porter’s brigade would be a part of the Union flanking force. Speed was the key to the successful execution of McDowell’s complex plan. Unfortunately, in 1861 there were few units in the green Union Army that could move fast enough to make it work without a total loss of organization. Still, that was the plan, and the soldiers moved out as rapidly as possible, some of them singing Dixie as they moved into Virginia.Porter’s brigade and the Marines did their part, falling into marching order at 2 a.m. Despite the early start, the marchers suffered immediate delays and could not keep to the attack timetable. Columns became hopelessly disorganized, mixing with other units on the road and becoming confused in the dark; other regiments lost their way completely. It was not until midmorning on the 21st that the first Union elements actually crossed Bull Run. Even as the congestion cleared, the Marines discovered another challenge to their march. Griffin’s battery contained six horse-drawn cannons that raced ahead of the brigade whenever they could to make up time.

In Reynolds’ own words, The battery’s accelerated march was such as to keep my command more or less in double-quick time; consequently the men became fatigued or exhausted in strength. Double-quicking their way through the dark, the Marines lost much of their freshness, particularly as the morning turned into a typically hot July day in Virginia. Once the Marines crossed Bull Run, they rested half an hour while the remainder of Porter’s brigade caught up. Meanwhile, the first Union brigade to cross the creek, Brig. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s, advanced toward the Confederate flank near Sudley Ford. Only a part of Colonel Nathan Shanks Evans’ Confederate brigade protected the left side of Beauregard’s army against the initial Union onslaught. McDowell’s plan just might work. Burnside’s men engaged the Confederate line while Porter moved his men up on Burnside’s right. Griffin’s battery pushed ahead of Porter’s column, followed closely by the Marines, and started firing from a range of 1,000 yards.

Griffin’s six guns, four rifled 10-pounders and two howitzers, quickly silenced a Confederate battery and then continued forward, advancing to the right as the Confederates started to yield under the intense pressure. Griffin’s artillery again aggressively pushed forward, with the Marines close behind, while Burnside’s brigade forced the Confederates back. Still, the Confederate lines responded with intense and deadly fire as more Southern troops arrived to defend the flank. Burnside’s men, tiring after several hours of vicious combat, began to lose their initiative, faltering and withdrawing on their own to replenish their ammunition. The majority of Burnside’s brigade retreated to Sudley Ford and were no longer a factor on the battlefield. Porter’s men, however reluctantly, now were in the Union front. Although one of Porter’s regiments followed Burnside’s exodus to the rear, the remainder of the brigade, including Griffin’s guns and the Marines, continued to fight ferociously. Additional Union brigades began to fill gaps as the battle progressed into the afternoon and the Confederate lines shifted about a mile to the rear. The Union army, despite its late start and early confusion, surged onward, ready to carry the day.

Confederate resistance stiffened, however, as reinforcements from Johnston’s force arrived from Harpers Ferry by train. As they climbed down from the train, Beauregard hastily sent the new forces forward to bolster his left flank. Eventually the Confederates, under the implacable leadership of Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, rallied on Henry House Hill in a stubborn defense that earned him the nickname Stonewall, and the hill became the focal point of the battle. At 2 p.m. Griffin’s battery and a second artillery battery, under Captain J.B. Ricketts, were ordered to occupy Henry House Hill, supported by infantry and Marines. Griffin’s cannons were not well to the front, but they fired harmlessly over the Confederates, who were sheltered on the opposite side of the hill. Meanwhile, the Union artillery was suffering under heavy Confederate return fire. The Marines covering the artillery were exposed to the same concentrated fire and rapidly began losing men of their own. Still, they remained in support of Griffin’s battery as the action grew hotter around Henry House Hill. As the fighting continued, an infantry regiment was observed closing in on Griffin’s guns.

At the same time, the 14th New York Infantry was moving up to protect the battery’s flank, and the unknown regiment was thought to be a similar reinforcement, but from a different Union division. Griffin wanted to open fire on the blue-uniformed force, but major William F. Barry, McDowell’s artillery chief, ordered him to hold his fire. Suddenly, murderous fire of musketry and rifles erupted against Griffin’s men. The supposed reinforcements were the 33rd Virginia, whose commander, Colonel Arthur Cummings, had disobeyed an order from Jackson that he hold his position. Still wearing blue uniforms from prewar days, the 33rd Virginia was able to advance to within 70 yards of the Union right flank. The casualties they inflicted on the Marines were the first confirmation of their hostile intent. The Union force resisted for a short time, but the surprise attack was devastating. Both artillery batteries suffered severely, bearing the brunt of the attack, and Griffin desperately attempted to remove his guns. But the Confederates came storming on, swarming over his artillery and supporting infantry. The 14th and 27th New York regiments broke and fled, followed by other supporting regiments.

The Marines, in spite of the efforts of their officers, broke as well. Without support, Griffin’s battery was overrun, losing a quarter of its men and half of its horses. That was the last of us, Griffin reported later; we were all cut down. Reynolds managed to rally his Marines, and they returned to the fight. Again, however, the Confederate pressure was overwhelming, swamping the support troops and the Marines who still continued to fight. One Marine officer was killed and Major Zeilin was wounded, but action continued around the artillery battery. In all, possession of Griffin’s guns was contested three times. Finally, at 4 p.m., the Marines broke one last time, contributing to the general route of the Union army. The First Battle of Bull Run (or First Manassas) had ended with a surprising Confederate victory and a humiliating Union flight. Eventually, however, most of the Marines managed to return to Washington. Reynolds caught up with the largest group of the battalion, about 70 Marines, during the withdrawal. Overall, his battalion lost nine Marines killed, 19 wounded and six missing.

Reynolds gamely praised his men for their good conduct, considering their lack of combat experience, but it was an unavoidable fact that his young Marines had fled the battlefield. The Marine commandant would later report to the secretary of the navy that it is the first instance recorded in its history where any portion of [the Corps’] members turned their backs to the enemy. Historians would characterize the Marines’ performance at Bull Run as a dismal-and atypical-example of battlefield panic. Surprisingly, there were no recriminations against the Marines at the time. Reynolds was promoted to lieutenant colonel a few days later and continued to serve throughout the war. One of his officers, 2nd Lt. Robert Huntington, would not only fight in other theaters in the Civil War but also would lead the attack to capture Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the Spanish-American War, 37 years later. Major Jacob Zeilin recovered from his wound at Bull Run and commanded the Marines during joint action against Charleston, S.C., later in the war. In 1864, he was selected as the seventh commandant of the Marine Corps, promoted ahead of four more senior Marines, including Reynolds.

In 1867, Zeilin was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the first Marine to hold that rank. Although not a proud moment in Marine Corps history, the performance at Bull Run had extenuating circumstances. Three weeks of training were clearly not enough. Reynolds reported that his Marines had barely learned facing movements before they marched off to war. Although the 90-day volunteer regiments were not veterans either, even they had trained longer than three weeks. As a result, the Marines were probably the least experienced soldiers in McDowell’s entire amateur army at Bull Run. Despite their brief training time, the Marines’ fighting effort at Bull Run compared favorably with that of other units. At the forefront of the battle, the Marines suffered losses that were comparable to the overall 18 percent casualty rate suffered by Porter’s brigade at Bull Run. Marine casualties were also nearly equal to those of the Regular Army battalion, then the most experienced unit in the Union Army, and were greater than many of the larger infantry regiments in the battle. Overall, the Marine’s performance in action equaled the majority of the other units in Porter’s brigade.

Because of their inexperience, the Marines had been assigned as an artillery escort, supposedly to remain behind the lines. Ironically, this secure assignment led to their repeated involvement in the most severe action of the battle. Although the dismal outcome of the battle may not have been what Major Reynolds had anticipated only five days before, his own Marine battalion had fought hard and well on the shores of Bull Run. He could take some pride, at least, in that. This article was written by Kendall J. King and originally appeared in the September 1996 issue of America’s Civil War. The Second Battle of Bull Run: A Civil War Sesquicentennial - History in the Headlines The Second Battle of Bull Run: A Civil War Sesquicentennial August 28, 2012 By Jesse Greenspan Share this: The Second Battle of Bull Run: A Civil War Sesquicentennial Author The Second Battle of Bull Run: A Civil War Sesquicentennial URL Google Today marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Second Battle of Bull Run, one of the more overshadowed fights of the American Civil War.

Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia is commemorating the event’s sesquicentennial with a series of walking tours, lectures and historic weapons demonstrations. For those who can’t attend, read on to get the facts on the major battle. When analyzing the 1862 summer campaign, Civil War historians have tended to focus on its bookends: the Seven Days’ Battles, in which the Confederates staved off a Union assault on their capital, and the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of fighting in U.S. history. Yet the Second Battle of Bull Run, otherwise known as the Second Battle of Manassas, was significant in its own right. An unambiguous Southern victory, it cemented General Robert E. Lee’s reputation as a brilliant tactician and paved the way for his first invasion of the North. It also helped to persuade distraught Union leaders in Washington, D.C., that emancipating the slaves had become a military necessity.

Although the Confederates emerged victorious in July 1861 at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) , when a coordinated counterattack sent Northern soldiers into a wild retreat, they withdrew the following March to a more defensible position 40 miles south. That same month, Union General George B. McClellan transported more than 100,000 men by boat to the tip of Virginia’s York-James peninsular, from where he planned to march on Richmond. An overly cautious McClellan, who habitually overestimated the strength of his opponent, made it to within 6 miles of the Confederate capital. But from June 25 to July 1, 1862, his Army of the Potomac was repulsed by Lee in a series of actions that became known as the Seven Days’ Battles. Union General John Pope, often remembered for his defeat during the Second Battle of Bull Run. Meanwhile, on June 26, Union General John Pope was named commander of the newly formed Army of Virginia. He immediately issued a boastful address that would come back to haunt him.

“I come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies,” Pope told his 50,000 troops. “I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases … [like] ‘lines of retreat.’” Pope moved into Northern Virginia in an attempt to cut the railroad connecting Richmond with the Shenandoah Valley, but a relatively minor August 9 skirmish with Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s men stopped his advance. Lee then decided to attack Pope before reinforcements from McClellan could arrive. On August 25 he divided his army in two, sending Jackson and 24,000 men on a march around Pope’s right flank. After traveling an astounding 54 miles in less than two days, Jackson’s troops reached a lightly defended Union supply base at Manassas Junction, where they proceeded to eat like pigs, load their packs with what they could carry and burn everything else. Much to Pope’s chagrin, they also managed to disappear by the time Union forces reached the scene.

The Second Battle of Bull Run officially kicked off 150 years ago today, on August 28, when Jackson’s troops fired upon an oblivious column of Union soldiers passing by Brawner Farm. Rather than run away, the northerners hurriedly returned fire, finally withdrawing past midnight. Early the next morning, Pope gathered his scattered force and ordered a number of piecemeal assaults against Jackson’s position along an unfinished railroad. Despite being badly outnumbered, Jackson held on until the arrival of the rest of Lee’s army a few hours later. That night the Confederates readjusted their lines, prompting Pope to wrongly assume they were retreating. He sent a victory dispatch to Washington, D.C., and organized a pursuit. His soldiers only made it a few hundred yards, however, before being shot at by the dug-in rebel army. The northerners then struck at Jackson once again and drove him back. Some of Jackson’s troops even ran out of ammunition and resorted to throwing stones. But on the other side of the battlefield, Confederate General James Longstreet brought up his artillery and savagely counterattacked.

Though fierce fighting around Henry House Hill (a pivotal landmark in both Bull Runs) prevented Pope’s men from being completely annihilated, they were forced to retreat back toward Washington in the rain. Including a rear-guard action on September 1, the Union suffered about 14,500 killed, captured or wounded at Second Bull Run, compared to about 9,500 casualties on the Confederate side. Cannons line a field at Manassas National Battlefield Park. Lee wasted no time in following up. On September 4 he began sending troops into Maryland, thereby prompting panicked Union leaders to organize bureaucrats into a militia and to order Treasury Department funds sent up to New York. Then, on September 17, the two sides both suffered enormous casualties during the Battle of Antietam, which sent the Confederates back into Southern territory. Five days later, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation and with the stroke of a pen changed the war aims of the Union. Second Bull Run was thus immediately overshadowed by what came next, and it has remained that way ever since.

In fact, no modern historian had thoroughly addressed the battle until John Hennessey came out with “Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas” in 1992, according to Ray Brown, chief historian at Manassas National Battlefield Park . “The average visitor doesn’t necessarily understand, first of all, that there was a Second Manassas battle to begin with, and they don’t understand the importance the battle had in terms of the course of the war in 1862,” Brown said. As part of Second Bull Run’s 150th anniversary commemoration, park historians will lead walking tours over the entire battlefield, starting with Brawner Farm on August 28 and ending with Henry House Hill on August 30. Lectures, along with artillery, cavalry and infantry demonstrations, will then take place on September 1 and 2.

Tags battles of Bull Run | American Civil War | Britannica.com Battles of Bull Run Alternative Titles: battles of Manassas, battles of Manassas Junction Related Topics Thomas Jonathan Jackson Battles of Bull Run, also called battles of Manassas or Manassas Junction , in the American Civil War , two engagements fought in the summers of 1861 and 1862 at a small stream named Bull Run, near Manassas in northern Virginia; both battles gave military advantage to the Confederacy. The strategic significance of the location lay in the fact that Manassas was an important railroad junction. Catharpin Run, Sudley Church, and the remains of the Sudley Sulphur Spring house, Bull Run, … Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-B8171-0314 DLC) The First Battle of Bull Run (called First Manassas by the South) was fought on July 21, 1861. Although neither army was adequately prepared at this early stage of the war, political considerations and popular pressures caused the Federal government to order General Irvin McDowell to advance southwest of Washington to Bull Run in a move against Richmond, Virginia .

The 22,000 Confederates under General P.G.T. Beauregard , after initial skirmishing, had retired behind Bull Run in defensive positions three days earlier. To counter a Union flanking movement, the Confederates swiftly moved in 10,000 additional troops from the Shenandoah under General Joseph E. Johnston . On July 21 the Union army assaulted the Confederates. The battle raged back and forth, but finally the arrival of Johnston’s last brigade forced the Federals into a disorganized retreat to Washington. The victors were also exhausted and did not pursue them. From among 37,000 Northern men, casualties numbered about 3,000; of 35,000 Southern troops, between 1,700 and 2,000 were wounded or lost. First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), lithograph by Kurz and Allison, 1889. Kurz & Allison/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-pga-01843) Federal cavalry at Sudley Ford, Bull Run, Virginia, photograph by George N. Barnard.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-B8171-0313 DLC) Confederate soldiers killed during the First Battle of Bull Run, July 1861. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Similar Topics Battle of Waterloo The Second Battle of Bull Run took place more than a year later on August 29–30, 1862, between a Confederate army of more than 56,000 men under General Robert E. Lee and a newly formed Federal force of 70,000 troops under Major General John Pope . It had become Pope’s responsibility to cover Washington until his army could be joined with the Army of the Potomac. To prevent this, Lee split his forces and ordered General Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson to march around Pope’s right flank; in two days Jackson had captured Pope’s supply depot at Manassas and had safely hidden his three divisions in a nearby wood. August 27–29 saw considerable maneuvering and fighting while Lee rushed forward the main body of his army to join Jackson.

On the afternoon of August 30, Confederate artillery fire prevented the success of a Union assault on Jackson’s positions, after which Lee ordered his entire army forward in a grand counterattack. The Confederate victory was not complete because the Union forces withstood repeated assaults on certain defensive positions. Finally, however, Pope withdrew his defeated army across Bull Run and eventually retreated to the fortifications of the capital. Casualties on both sides were high: 15,000 for the North, 9,000 for the South. At the second battle of Bull Run, Confederate forces under Gen. Robert E. Lee defeated a Union army … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Question: In which war were there two battles of Bull Run
Answer: American Civil War